One wants in the postseason, the other wants the No. 1 seed in Hockey East.

No. 4 New Hampshire Wildcats (18-8-6) vs. Maine Black Bears (10-17-7)

It’s the final weekend of the conference schedule in Hockey East, and both New Hampshire and Maine have things to figure out heading into their rivalry battle. UNH is seeking to finish No. 1 overall in the conference and needs to score a pair of wins while hoping UMass-Lowell slips up against Providence to make it happen. If the Wildcats needed extra motivation, being able to keep Maine out of the Hockey East tournament should do it.

The Black Bears are hanging on to the eighth spot in the conference by just one point over UMass and while they can’t hope for the Minutemen to just lose to Merrimack, it’s on them to find a way to slow down a New Hampshire attack that’s done well this season.

UNH rolls with five players who fill the net regularly (Kevin Goumas leads the way with 37 points) and it’ll be up to Maine’s junior goalie, Martin Ouellette, to hold down the fort. He’s done well since taking over for Dan Sullivan and after the disastrous start to their season, Maine just making the Hockey East tournament would be a great accomplishment. Maine’s not-so potent offense will have to deal with one of the better goalies in the country in sophomore Casey DeSmith who made headlines earlier this season for UNH.

NHL prospects to watch

This game is light on draftees with just six players in all who’ve had their name called. New Hampshire has just two with Eric Knodel (D – JR – Toronto) and Greg Burke (F – SR – Washington). Knodel is a solid blue liner and he and Trevor van Riemsdyk (James’ younger brother) are their two most productive defensemen. Goumas, an undrafted junior forward, has been the set-up man for fellow undrafted guys like John Henrion, Austin Block, and Grayson Downing (38 combined goals).

Maine, meanwhile, rolls with four draftees led by Ouellette, a Blue Jackets prospect. Joining him are a pair of solid freshmen forwards in Devin Shore (Dallas) and Ben Hutton (Vancouver). Shore is second on the team in points to undrafted senior Joey Diamond. Senior defenseman Nick Pryor (Anaheim) has played in 17 games this year earning just two assists.

We’re taking you “Back To Class” for our roundup of the weekend’s action in college hockey. Look for more college hockey on NBCSN with a doubleheader this Friday night with No. 1 Boston College at Boston University (7:30 p.m. ET) and Denver vs. Wisconsin (10:00 p.m. ET)

Things were going so well for Denver University this season until they invited a pair of teams from New England to town this past weekend. The Pioneers were 9-1-0 and the No. 2 team in the country heading into action against Yale and New Hampshire. But once things were over with on Saturday night, they’d lost 2-1 in overtime to the Bulldogs and blew a 4-1 second period lead to UNH before losing 6-4.

On their overtime loss to Yale, coach George Gwozdecky told Mike Chambers of The Denver Post, “Fortunately, we saw this coming. It was not a good week of practice. … Some of the plays we couldn’t make, whether it was the 5-on-3 power play or the other four power plays. It was awful. No other way to put it. If I had been sitting anywhere else, I would have been booing.”

And that was after their second loss of the season. If there’s a potential cure for Denver it comes in the form of this weekend’s visitors from the University of Wisconsin as the Badgers are just 1-7-2 to start the year and swept last weekend by Minnesota State.

While Denver will surely slip when polls come out later today, the question here for Gwozdecky’s team is if this is just a hiccup or a sign of problems on the way. With talent like Nick Shore (Los Angeles), Joey LaLeggia (Edmonton), Chris Knowlton, and David Makowski there’s plenty of balance in their attack.

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Cornell dominates Frozen Apple: The Big Red took advantage of the big stage of Madison Square Garden handing a 5-1 beating to Michigan in front of a packed house. Without the Rangers to bring the roar to Broadway, Mike Schafer’s team helped keep hockey alive in NYC for at least one night. Here’s a great idea: How about a Frozen Four at MSG one of these years?

Best goalie you haven’t heard of: How about the play of Niagara junior Carsen Chubak? He’s 8-1-3 this season but tops in the country in goals against average (0.99) and save percentage (.970). That’s just 12 goals in 12 games played. Yes, he’s doing it against Atlantic Hockey competition but those numbers are astounding regardless, plus he’s doing it all coming off of knee surgery.

Hot freshman action: Staying in goal, how about Minnesota’s Adam Wilcox? Playing for the Golden Gophers is loaded with pressure as it is, but the first-year starter is pretending like it’s nothing by putting up numbers that make him the third best guy in the nation behind Chubak and Ohio State senior Brady Hjelle. If he keeps this up, they’ll build a statue for him by his junior year in the Twin Cities.

Reminder: There’s been plenty here about Denver, but Friday’s first game between No. 1 Boston College and No. 10 Boston University is about as good as it gets in the college ranks. Jerry York vs. Jack Parker. Johnny Gaudreau vs. Wade Megan. It’s must-see TV, even more so without the NHL to occupy our eyeballs.